Question

Compare and contrast Red Red Rose by Robert Browning with Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Be sure to focus on each work’s structure and each writer’s use of poetic elements, as well as the language, imagery, and themes of both works. Include specific examples from the texts of both poems to prove your points.

Answer 1

The theme of both poems is an endless, deep and passionate love. In ‘A red, red rose’ there is a structure, the stanzas each have four lines and the second and fourth line of each verse rhyme, giving the poem a very evident rhythm; on the other hand, ‘Sonet 43’ doesn’t have a rhyhtmic structure that evident, but there is the use of repetition of the phrase ”I love thee”. Both poems use figurative language to make comparisons: similes and metaphors (“O my Luve is like a red, red rose…”, “O my Luve is like the melody…”), ( “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach…”). In ‘A red, red rose’ the writer uses elements of nature to make the comparisons (“Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun…”), while in  ‘Sonet 43’ the writer uses human emotions and actions to compare (“I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to us. In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.”).